Out of balance
by Inseyaali
Summary: Rose needs to choose again-excpet this time, can she go back?
1. The icy letter

"Dimitri, why does the hall look so big?'' asked Rose through her microphone.

"Roza, you know this microphone isn't a cell phone, on which you have me on speed dial." The smooth voice replied "Alberta flew through the roof when you asked me what was cooking tonight." Dimitri chuckled.

Rose caught Lisa's eye, and saw she was smiling. Not because she had heard Rose's conversation, but because she had saw Adrian and Jill holding hands on stage again.

Adrian had been hired as the official speaker, like his Father before he retired. He was still new to the job and was rough around, well, everywhere. A lot of Royals did not like Adrian's manner and though Lisa was slacking. The good news was, after Jill had completed studying Moroi and Damphir law she became Lisa's official adviser, and been the one to balance Adrian out. Adrian did not mind Jill's age and whenever his Mother brought it up, he gave me and Dimitri as another example.

"Here comes the Queen, Vasilisa Dragomir! Stand y'all" Said Adrian, in his usual silky voice. Jill gave him a look of despair, mixed with adoration. No matter how annoying Adrian's commentary got, she never scolded him. Unlike me, who was constantly telling Dimitri to back off the weaker Guardians. Dimitri was now the Head of Guardians, with Alberta supervising him. She always suspected Dimitri was going to do something crazy because of me.

Lisa sat on her green and gold throne, and everyone else followed. It was a tradition now, Lisa did not order them to sit, and they sat when she sat. There were a lot of other rules that the Royals did not agree upon. Like allowing all Moroi to vote, and basically giving more importance to the outside Moroi and Damphir world. Not all the Royals liked that, like Ronald Ozera. He and the rest of his cult, like the Zelekos were, completely against Lisa giving more importance to the Damphir and common Moroi. That's why we were having this meeting today, so we could hear everybody's complaints. Lisa was a picture of calm and collection, but I knew she was nervous. The worst possible thing for her was to lose her reputation and dishonor the Dragomir family.

"Good Morning everyone. We have gathered-"spoke Lisa in a loud clear voice.

"Guardians, please go into emergency formation. I have a feeling something's wrong." Said a puzzled Dimitri, through the Guardian earphone.

We all shifted into the usual Code Red formation. Two at the back, two on the sides and me right next to Lisa.

As we were changing, people started muttering about the change in formation. I tried to find Christian to warn him about the emergency, but he was nowhere to be seen. 'Must be with Mia' I thought. They had been spending an awful lot of time together.

"Quiet for God's sake! Lisa is talking" said Adrian through the microphone. The whispering died down instantly.

I thought about what could happen: Striogi attacks, a group of Moroi rebels, an alert somewhere near. Whatever it was, they were not getting anywhere near Lisa. With a look of battle lust and steely determination in my eye, I scanned my surroundings. Nothing.

Frustrated, I whispered, "What is going on Dimitri?" No reply. "Dimitri?" I said a little bit louder. I was starting to feel hands twisting my heart, making me feel like I was going to throw up.

"Come on! D-Dimitri? Answer me!" I said for the final time. This earned a few stares from my fellow Guardians, who were oblivious to the fact that our Head was not answering us. Dumb people, probably thought Dimitri had gone on a coffee break.

"So because of these complaints, I have decided to hold this meeting. I will read a family and a spokesperson, who will come in front of me and express their, um, concern." Lisa's voice bounced off the wall's eerily, making it seem like the room was empty. "Would Jillian Dragomir please come and hand me the papers containing the names."

"Here you go Jailbait." Said Adrian, accidentally through the microphone. He got a few disapproving stares and words for that.

Jill came down with her peach dress flowing behind her, looking like a real princess. Today her caramel hair was tied up into a bun, with hairpin in the shape of a dragon. It was identical to Lisa's hair pin, which she had used as a broach for her purple dress. Lisa usually kept her hair open, but today it was tied in a simple ponytail. 'Must be the stress' I thought.

As Lisa unrolled the piece of paper, her eyes widened and a scream escaped her mouth. Well, it was more like a yelp, but it was scary enough.

"Rose! Jill! Where's Christian?" she asked in a panicked voice. "Oh my God, I knew this would happen. I knew it! Thank God Dimitri…"

"Lis, what happened?" questioned Jill, now completely out of it.

Adrian, sensing the change in atmosphere, took this as an opportunity to show off his expertise.

"Okay, meeting postponed." He barked into the microphone.

"What! This is a scam!" said some Zelekos.

"Hey, Pinprick. Go get a drink before you melt." Said Adrian, in the most menacing voice you could imagine.

"Lisa! What happened?'' I asked.

"Look at this Rose. I'm so sorry." She whispered.

There on the paper, instead of the neat names me and Jill wrote-well he section was neat- were words scrawled with red. "BELIKOV AND OZERA ARE OURS. RESIGN AND LET TASHA GO. HATHAWAY IS NEXT"

There and then, my worlds collided. I knew this technique; they put the two people in two different places, and usually killed one of them. "Let Tasha go'', meaning they were linked to Tasha Ozera. And we only had enough time to save one of them. 'That doesn't matter now' I thought.

Examining the paper more closely, I saw the red was blood. Moroi blood.

"Okay, forces behind me. Get the Queen to safety, Annabetha. Don't worry this isn't Striogi. Rest of you, check out the surroundings, and discuss tactics. We have to lead a fully fledged search party. I'm going to go see Tasha Ozera." I commanded. I had picked up a few things from Dimitri; even thinking of him sent a surge of pain through me.

"Rose, what about Dimitri? You're only looking for Christian here." Asked Pricilla.

"They come first," I replied.


	2. Not always first

I marched to Tasha's cell, through the Court Jail. I did not like the feel of gloom here and it always reminded me of the time I had spent here. I shuddered, but at the same time remembered something. It was when I was in jail, and Abe came to deliver a message.

"Rose, it's me" he said through the bars "I have a message for you"

I had been sleeping, to pass the time instead of trying to break the bars. Not my most sane moment.

Yawning, I said. "Hey Old man, they gonna let me go?" I asked.

"Sorry, Rose. I'm still working on that" His expression darkened for a moment. "You look almost innocent when you sleep though."

"Yeah, whenever a Guardian comes to glare at me, I'll fall asleep. I'll be out of here in no time" I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Do you want your message or not? Belikov said it was important." He replied.

Belikov? I sat up straight, with my eyebrows shooting up. "Like, Dimitri? What did he say?" I said, trying to hide my nervousness.

"I think he's lost it, poor guy. But he said I needed to deliver this." Abe's tone was annoyingly conversational. "He told you to wear your hair up."

We had reached Tasha's cell. She had lost a lot of weight-and hair. He eyes bulged, and her cheekbones higher than ever. I could gladly say, she looked worse than ever. The only positive thing was her scar, which was fading rapidly. That made me suspicious.

"Rose. What a surprise, how's Christian? "She said without looking up.

"Kidnapped. And I've to come ask where he and Dimitri are." My voice was brisk and firm.

"Dimitri?" Her eyes glared at me. "Why would I know? Get her out of here. NOW!" she barked to the guards.

Even as a criminal, Tasha had an influence over people. The Guards looked at me apologetically and ushered me towards the door.

"Sweetheart, you're not getting anywhere with this! The faster it fades, the faster they go!" she cackled.

I looked around to question her, but the Guardians had shut the gates. The only clue I had was her scar fading, and that probably had nothing to do with Dimitri.

Disheartened, I walked away from the jail and towards the grounds, to see Alberta. She had taken over this operation, and we all had to report to her. So far she had found who Christian met last: Mia Rinaldini, at the café, where they were having lunch. He had apparently gone to the bathroom and never come back.

"Hum, Little Damphir, how's it going?" asked Adrian, popping up from behind a tree.

"Were you spying on me?" I asked with indignation.

"I was waiting for you. I thought you looked upset." He looked at me with worried eyes.

"I'm fine, Adrian. Stressed." I replied, careful to keep my expression blank.

"Even for a Guardian, that's not natural. Alberta told you to just pass on the information, and go to Lisa." He replied.

"You should have told me before." I said running towards Lisa's chambers.

I did not want to go to Lisa, when I could be helping Alberta find Dimitri and Christian. But, hey, the guy she was going to get married to be kidnapped. That must be taking its toll on her.

And you? Said the sane voice in my head.

Shut it. We'll find Dimitri, and Christian. My loyalty is towards Lisa now. And anyways, she's probably sitting in her room, calm as a cucumber, waiting for information.

I found Lisa 5 minutes later. She was sitting on her bed, crying her eyes out, with a bag of Fudge cookies next to her. She was also talking to her cat, Dragon, and telling it never to leave her. She was the perfect picture of a Queen in panic. Way to go spirit.

"Lis! Get up! We have to leave, now. We're going to find Dimitri." I said trying to make her feel better.

Lisa got up, her eyes full of flames. "Dimitri! That's all you think about. What about me? What about Christian!'' she shouted.

Suddenly angered I did the first thing that came in my mind. Get sarcastic, Abe style. "Oh, so it's like all of my searches are not pointing towards Christian. I am totally looking for only Dimitri. And you? You are like nothing."

"So why are you here, looking for Dimitri, and not helping the other Guardians out?" she questioned.

"I'm here for you. But I guess you're so calm, that my help is not needed!"

"You know Rose; you've been ignoring a load of people because of Dimitri. And some Guardian duties too."Lisa's voice was snobbish, and I couldn't stand that.

"Who are you to tell me what my duties are! Just because you're Queen, doesn't mean you can be a total bi-"I stopped as Adrian coughed behind me. Jill looked at us worriedly.

"Huh! Adrian, even you say she has been spending a load of time with Dimitri." Lisa said.

Adrian looked at us both uncomfortably for a moment, and then returned to his usual annoying self.

"This is a chick fight."

I could not take it anymore, this was way too much. "Oh so you and Lisa have been gossiping? What's your problem, you're useless you know."

"Enough Rose. You're going too far." Said Jill, as forcefully as she could manage.

"Shut up Jailbait." I spat.

"Oi!" said Adrian.

I ended up swearing at them all, and being pulled away by a Guardian. Then after getting a lecture from Alberta, I got suspended by Hanks. Great day?

So I've decided to pack my bags and go look for them myself. I had already pulled some darkness from Lisa, and sprayed Jill's dry-cleaned dress with black paint. Then I squeezed all of Adrian's toothpaste in a bottle of beer and left.

I was a tumble of emotions. I wanted to cry and call my mother; scream and break things and get a Moroi to drink out of me at the same time. I pushed that last thought out of my head, it was dangerous. I knew where to look, there was a person who needed to be questioned. Thoroughly. Dimitri spent enough time with her in Jail. She was giving me the answers, if she liked it or not.

They don't always come first.


	3. The turning

Wearing dark sunglasses and a large black coat, I should have been looking like a real badass. The only problem was, I was wearing lipstick and carrying an unconscious woman, who was six feet tall. This was Allie Rhea, the twenty-two-year old who could know what had happened to Dimitri. The only problem was that she lived in a physiology ward in jail, for murdering a Guardian. Her cousin was Striogi and the Guardian had killed him, so she wanted to take revenge. Messed up Moroi.

The lipstick? Lisa and a few other Guardians were looking for me, and in this quest to save Chris-I mean,-Dimitri, I was not going to operate through Alberta's Office.

I saw a blue ford and unlocked it with the keys I had, ahem, borrowed, from Jill. I had stolen enough cars to numb the guilt of stealing this one, although I hoped it would come back in less than four pieces. I got inside the car and lay Allie down on the back seat, and covered her up with a black blanket, making her look like a bag. Well, a bag with a machine inside it. Then I stood up and walked over to the front seat, tinted windows, handy.

"Have you seen Rose Hathaway, Ma'm" asked a voice suddenly. I jumped, and nearly staked the poor Guardian. Why did he just call me ma'm?

"Miss Pandora?" Pandora? Like Talia Pandora, from France?

I could not believe I was wearing the Pandora' coat, the amazing Moroi designer who was known nationwide for her clothes. She had been called to design her clothes on special functions.

I realized I was looking dazed enough to look like an imposter, so I replied with the first accent that came into my mind.

"Ya Man, I don't know who ya talkin' 'bout man!" Unfortunately that accent was Jamaican.

"Who are you?" asked the Guardian, stern and cold now.

"Oh, do you leek my new acc-aun-t? Who eez this Roza?" I asked, chocking up on the word 'Roza'.

"The Queens guardian, Miss. She has escaped, we are looking for her."

"No. Sorry, I cannot he-eelp ya!" I yelped and jumped into the car, and started the ignition.

The poor Guardian stood there perplexed, as I huffily drove away.

I had to choose the world's most known persons coat, while I was on an undercover mission. Whatever, I turned on the radio and looked back at my unconscious company.

It made me think of the time me and Dimitri had gotten time off, and had gone to a picnic. We had driven to Athena's Island, and were listening to old corny cowboy songs. Dimitri was wearing a light blue plaid shirt with faded jeans. I was wearing my jeans and a green top, with my hair tied up. After we had eaten, he said, "Rose, I have to leave."

"Hm? We just got here." I said sleepily, lying down in the grass.

"No. I've been getting death threats, from someone."

"What did they say?" Guardians always got threats, it was pretty normal.

"They told me to stay away from you. Or else, Christian would be in trouble. Maybe I should leave." He said

"No way, Comrade. We finally got to be together, you are not leaving." I said, maybe a little too harshly.

"And anyways, we can all hide here if anything happens." I joked.

"Okay, Roza. We can build a boat and sail away into the blue yonder."

"Aye Aye, Matie."

"I was speaking Russian." He replied shaking his head.

"WHERE AM I?" Screamed Allie, swatting the air.

"Morning Allie, where's Dimitri?" I asked.

"We were working, last I saw him, Miss Pandora." She said, still panicked.

"What was he saying?" Basic Guardian questions.

"The usual, but something weird happened." She said, looking around. Thank God she had ADHD. "That drunken Ivashkov barged in, and said that Dimitri had not kept his bargain, and had to pay now."

I processed it all. Adrian was the one that sent those threats, because he was _jealous? Upset?_ I was disgusted. But I knew where I had to go now; I had to face Adrian, after being awkward with him for all these months. But he had Jill? Why would he do this?

Only one way to figure out. I turned right, planning probably the biggest and risky plan I had ever thought of, and tried to keep tears from spilling.

Maybe sometimes, they did not deserve to come first.


End file.
